


Gains

by Chris Ganale (ChrisGanale)



Series: Brothers in Arms [1]
Category: Full Metal Panic
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, teaser
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-07
Updated: 2013-08-07
Packaged: 2017-12-22 16:34:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/915493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChrisGanale/pseuds/Chris%20Ganale
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In this short teaser for the upcoming Special Edition of Brothers in Arms, the forces of Amalgam clash with the forces of MITHRIL in a remote Mexican villa, following the viewpoint of a double-agent in Amalgam's ranks.</p><p>Set two years after The Second Raid, Brothers in Arms follows a narrative in which Amalgam decided not to stage their attacks in the events of Continuing on My Own. Life has followed, with new members coming and going to the West Pacific Fleet, advancements in Arm Slave technology, and new factions on the world stage. But the dark specter of Amalgam ever lurks in the shadows, as though waiting for their opportune moment.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Gains

“ _Luvruck, I'm picking up movement on the scanner in the streets,”_ Melissa's voice buzzed over the micro-transmitter hidden deep in his inner ear. _“Moving to check it out. Keep trying to catch up to Lima.”_

The distant, steady bass rumble of the Arm Slave battle going on in the jungles and foothills surrounding the villa provided a constant background drone of noise, but he could hear the steadily-approaching footfalls of a running AS unit, a modified M9 by the sound of its drives and the impacts it made. The hiss of hydraulic drives as the unit braced, then the muffled thump as it leapt into the air indicated exactly how close the M9 had been, as if the shaking of the entire building he was in wasn't enough an indicator.

Clutching the AN-94 assault rifle to his chest, Luvruck paused in the middle of the room and leaned down slightly to get a glimpse out the windows of the Arm Slave landing on a building across the street. It wasn't an M9 at all, but one of the HOGIRE models fielded by the MolMolians. Almost as soon as it landed, a sheet of fire from the anti-aircraft batteries around the villa opened fire on it. The unit spun to face the direction of fire, the opaque green sphere of the LAMBDA Driver flashing into place to disperse the incoming fire.

“ _Damned thing, still haven't gotten the hang of it,”_ Mao cursed.

Relaxing slightly, knowing that even if she was unfamiliar with the use of the LAMBDA Driver, Mao was still more than skilled enough a pilot to deal with the anti-air, Luvruck continued to the other side of the outbuilding and opened the door leading out into the courtyard.

To his great surprise, Leonard stood under the overhang of the building, watching Mao's Arm Slave with an air of faint disinterest. Nearby, several Alastors and a handful of other Amalgam troops crouched in the shelter of nearby buildings, cautiously watching the elite enemy unit and seeming to be waiting for something.

Noticing the door open, Leonard looked toward him and gave a pleasant smile, holding out his right hand toward him. His other held a formidable FHJ-18 AA anti-Arm Slave shoulder-fired rocket launcher balanced upright with its business end pointed toward the sky. “Sergeant Luvruck, glad to see you made it out of there in one piece.”

Wary of the situation, Luvruck stepped forward and extended his own hand, expecting a handshake of greeting. To the infiltrator's surprise, Leonard grabbed him by the wrist and tugged him closer, making a show of inspecting the blood spatters that decorated his hand. “Is that MITHRIL blood on your hands, Sergeant?” he asked.

“Of course it is, Mister Testarossa,” he answered neutrally, tactfully extracting his hand and taking a grip on the assault rifle again. “We must get you to safety. We've lost too many men.”

Chuckling lightly, Leonard stepped out from beneath the overhang and picked up the rocket launcher, raising it up to rest on his shoulder. As he was doing so, the volume of fire coming from the other side of Melissa's HOGIRE doubled in intensity, forcing her to focus the defensive field of the LAMBDA Driver in that direction.

“Victory is not measured in losses,” Leonard remarked casually.

“ _Luvruck, haven't heard from you,”_ Melissa said. _“You still with us?”_

As if in answer, Leonard fired the rocket at the moment when the defensive field was weakest, the tandem warhead first penetrating the weakened field and then detonating between the main thruster units on the back, directly against the generator.

“ _Agh, shit, I'm hit!”_ Melissa swore, leaving Luvruck in the surreal position of watching combat from one perspective while being able to hear it from another. Her Arm Slave stumbled, overbalanced from the explosive force of the missile, before the generator output failed and the once-graceful machine of war collapsed backwards like the ungainly pile of metal and electronics it was.

With the machine smashing into the outbuilding he'd come out of just moments ago, Leonard turned to face him and triumphantly proclaimed, “It is measured in gains!”

* * *

**Author's Note:**

> And so it begins. On a whim I decided to import my two major projects, BiA and Project: Arashi, to this place. The other day I hammered out a short excerpt of an upcoming event in BiA and when I came here I decided that I could put this up as a trailer in conjunction with the actual trailer I made, given that I finally learned how to embed video.
> 
> Now I'll go to work on the "Special Edition" of Brothers in Arms, which will entail cleaning up redundant errors and stuff missed the first go-round, as well as possibly expanding some scenes and creating new ones. More importantly, plans are in the work to begin a collaboration with a comrade who will tell this same story from the other side. We're excited about it, and hoping we can do it the merit it deserves.


End file.
